CANADIAN NATIONALS AND USCA REGIONALS IN THE WEST YIELD LOW POINT SCORES AND
LEAVE OSBORN WAY OUT IN FRONT OF GRAND PRIX

reported by
Louis Nel of Canada,
Rich Lamm of Colorado,
and Johnny Mitchell of Texas

A trio of Grand Prix events in late June put a host of new contenders into
the race but left the leaders untouched and way out in front. With nine of
16 Grand Prix events completed, Osborn's lead is unlikely to be challenged in
the three upcoming regionals, but could well be under attack in the major
events of the fall - especially the Merion Invitational and the USCA national
championships in San Francisco/Oakland and Palm Beach.

U.S.C.A. PRESIDENT WINS CANADA'S CASH PRIZE AND GIVES IT BACK

The Canadian Open Championship of 1997 differed from its predecessors in
several respects. Prize money totaling $1875 was up for grabs. The
customary doubles championship flight was replaced by a singles flight in
International Rules. The fine courts of two nearby lawn bowling clubs were
used in addition to the "home" courts of the Toronto Cricket, Skating and
Curling Club. And a Golf Croquet tournament was held on the day before the
"real" tournament started.

The USCA rules championship flight was divided into five blocks of five,
giving four block matches of 75 minutes to each of the block participants.
Eight advanced to the single-elimination playoff - block winners in
addition to three wild cards. Dan Mahoney defeated Leo McBride in one
semi-final while Jeff Soo got the better of rising star Jim Houser in the
other.

The ensuing finals between Dan and Jeff was a hard-fought battle. Dan was
ahead for most of the match, only to be overtaken by Jeff with the first ball
of the last rotation. It seemed that Jeff had the match under control, but
then disaster struck in the form of a routine stop-shot that went wrong.
Jeff's striker ball rolled behind a wicket to wire him from the connecting
roquet. His desperate shot at a boundary ball missed and gave Mahoney an
additional ball to work with as he regained the lead by one point with the
last ball in the match.

Dan Mahoney made Canadian croquet history by being the first USCA president
to participate in the Canadian Open. Already a popular guest of honor, he
brought out further smiles of approval when he re-donated his $500 first
prize to Croquet Canada.

The International Rules championship gave each player four block matches of
120 minutes duration. Only the four block winners went to play offs. The
final between Brian Cumming of Ontario and Jeff Soo was a match of
fluctuating fortunes, with Brian emerging on top.

The unusual format created a computing problem for the Grand Prix scoring:
point awards for each player were made on the basis of the combined results
of American Rules and International rules play. On that basis, Jeff Soo of
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, second in both tournaments, wound up in first
place in the Grand Prix points award.

SOUTHWEST REGIONALS HELD IN HOUSTON'S MEMORIAL PARK

The Southwest Regionals were held for the first time in Texas, in Houston's
Memorial Park. It was a small field but a fairly strong one, dominated in
singles by former national champion Jim Bast. Championship doubles were won
by Johnny Mitchell and Britt Ruby.
Jeff Caldwell took First Flight singles as well as doubles, teamed with John
Scott.

The regional was organized for June play during the San Francisco Open,
where, in a conversation with Dan Mahoney, Johnny Mitchell of the Houston
Croquet Association discovered that the planned date for the SW region would
be too late to allow players to qualify for the American rules nationals
championships in Palm Beach in October. The tournament was scheduled for an
early date when the heat and humidity in Houston would be at bearable mid-day
levels. The tournament came up short in numbers partly because of the short
notification period.

The lawns at Memorial Park, now a year old, are home to the Houston Croquet
Association. With two full-sized lawns on municipal turf used exclusively
for croquet, it is only the second such publicly supported municipal facility
in the country (after San Francisco's Stern Grove).

IN THEIR NEW REGION, DENVER HOSTS THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Colorado has long been a favorite venue for USCA regionals - first in the old
Western Region, then in the Southwest Region after the west was split. And
even before the USCA voted formal approval last April to the local players'
request to move Colorado into the Northwest Region, the Denver Croquet Club
began laying plans to host the Northwest Regionals.

Following a western trend of recent years, the Championship Flight of the
regional was short and weak (relative to the playing strength in the region).
The Championship Flight final was a battle between two local players, Rich
Lamm and Ed Merrill, with Lamm winning the top trophy. Karen Collingwood of
San Francisco took First Flight, and Aaron Bregman emerged on top of the
Second Flight

HOW THE NEW AMERICAN GRAND PRIX WORKS

The 1997 New America Grand Prix covers 16 of the most important croquet
events in North America - all the national championships and USCA regionals
as well as eight of the consistently strongest tournaments in the land.
Designed to track the performance of the top-level players throughout the
calendar year, the Grand Prix awards points to the top eight finishers in all
these tournaments. The amount of the points award depends not only on the
rank of finish in a particular tournament, but also the strength of the
tournament as measured in four "scoring ranges", with a win or place in the
toughest tournaments generating four times as many points as a win or place
in the weakest of the 16 events. The Grand Prix also takes into account
consistency: At the end of the year, the top performers' points are averaged
among all the Grand Prix events they contested, and the "Player of the Year"
is determined by computing the highest score. To be eligible for this
ranking, at least three events must be played.

HOW GRAND PRIX POINTS ARE AWARDED

Grand Prix player rankings are updated after each event, based on reported
results. Raw points are awarded on the following basis: